234 THE COLONIAL EXPANSION OF FRANCE 



untouched by English institutions, those of Reunion seem to have 

 been unaffected b}^ the thought and life of contemporary France. 

 The remnants of the old French possessions of India are not of much 

 moment. St Pierre and Miquelon, near Newfoundland, generally 

 known as St Pierre, are serving an important national purpose. 

 They are the center of fisheries so extensive that at least 40,000 per- 

 sons in France and in St Pierre depend upon them. They are also 

 nurseries of well-trained seamen, indispensable to the French navy. 

 It should be remembered that these colonies are but dislocated frag- 

 ments of two vast colonial empires, and that their experiences ))rove 

 nothing as to French colonial al)ility. 



FRENCH COLONIES IN' ASIA 



Of the newer colonies, there are the Pol^niesian possessions, which, 

 territorially, are not very important, but whose value will be greatly 

 affected by the American trans-isthmian canal. The most promising 

 is New Caledonia. It has the advantage, which so many French col- 

 onies lack, of being vei'y rich in minerals, the extraction of which has 

 proven very remunerative. Tliough a penal colony, it is attracting 

 from France new elements, whereby the wealth of the island will be 

 developed. 



While making mistakes of policy and of judgment, Francte has 

 achieved many beneficent results in Indo-China. She has introduced 

 an order in the country which had never existed before ; has organ- 

 ized the finances, and instituted regular budgets. That of Indo-China 

 in 1898 had a surplus of nine million francs. She has introduced 

 the kat-civil, which is a great instrument of social security and social 

 justice. She has established schools, model farms, important rail- 

 roads, telegraphs, river navigation, quays, beautiful buildings, and 

 extensive public works. Commerce has increased, and a study of the 

 number of Frenchmen who have settled in this colony as compared 

 with the Englisbmen who have settled in India would be to the 

 advantage of Indo-China. 



MADAGASCAR, THE SAHARA, AND TUNIS 



Africa seems to be the great sphere of French expansion. On the 

 east side she has Obok, close to the southern entrance of the Red Sea. 

 Its value is largely strategic, it has a good harbor, good water, and 

 the territory is said to contain much coal. 



